He’s one of the most infamous names in the stockbroking business, widely known for the controversial lifestyle he lived while helming one of the most dynamic and successful financial companies on Wall Street.
Yet his story isn’t for naught; CFOs can still take tips from his playbook to curb their companies’ business travel expenses. It all relies on following some of his less outlandish theories.
What we can learn from the Wolf of Wall Street
In his heyday Jordan Belfort, the former owner of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont, employed over 1,300, started more than 30 million-dollar companies from scratch and netted over $1.5 billion in revenue streams. He also took home over $50 million a year to earn himself the Hollywood-worthy moniker: the Wolf of Wall Street.
But the madness finally caught up to him and the New Yorker was soon jailed for securities fraud between 2004 and 2006, after conning his way to earning hundreds of millions in the 1990s.
Yet the disgraced Wolf of Wall Street, now a convicted felon (as our friends across the pond would say) is somehow still able to net $150,000 in fees for motivational talks to businesses around the world.
That’s right – although his past is littered with reckless spending, dubious business deals, self-indulgence and a propensity for the absurd, you have hand it to Belfort. The man sticks to his tried and tested theory and clearly still knows how to be successful.
So how does he do it?
Well, Belfort has a theory (that he has sworn by before, during and after his fall from grace) that every person has the ability to be both powerful and successful and it’s all down to two simple things: planning and vision. He conducts business by the mantra: “Where focus goes, energy flows.” He took this from life coach Tony Robbins and maintains that above all else having a clear vision and plan are pivotal to success.
Approach business travel like the Wolf
Belfort regularly gives talks to CFOs of large corporations on the key recipe for success in business. He continually reiterates the importance of these two factors without fail.
We decided to take these two pillars – vision and planning – to see how a boss like Belfort would advise CFOs who are looking after travel expenditure. Key issues range from hotel spending, travel expense compliance and balancing the books for auditors, which aren’t easy tasks.
Vision: A successful CFO needs to have the ultimate vision of eliminating all the obstacles that regularly pose issues for financial planners in companies. These are the excessive costs of hotel spending, enforcing travel expense compliance and managing costs related to travel bookings. All the while, they need to make sure that spending is so efficiently controlled that an auditor who pops in at the drop of a hat wouldn’t find anything that would be bad for the business.
Planning: Like Belfort, a clever CFO would look for ways to achieve this vision. Here’s where Roomex comes in. With Roomex, bookings are all invoiced and consolidated per cost codes, hotel spending is reduced (by up to 21%) thanks to dynamic or negotiated corporate hotel rates, the cost of staff is reduced with the introduction of one-click booking and all expenses are filed in one Roomex account with no contracts involved.
Sounds too good to be true?
Roomex fits the bill by functioning as an in-house travel management company, but without any of the associated costs. The platform is free and every hotel booking is price checked, comparing the rate you paid on Roomex to the hotel’s own rate so that savings on each booking are measured.
The cherry on the financial cake is the option to implement your own company’s travel policy and spending limits along with various billing and payment options including credit cards, AirPlus, or monthly accounts to produce one itemised invoice for all your hotel bookings. This ensures that all internal cost codes and POs are in the booking flow, allowing for easy breakdown and accounts reconciliation.
Belfort is a firm believer that once you have decided on your vision, all you have to do is map out your plan and key motivators and then take action. It’s as simple as that.
If you’re a financial controller or CFO, here’s what we say: why do all of this work when Roomex can do it for you?
Remember, “Where focus goes, energy flows.”
We know what Jordan Belfort would choose.
